Of course there is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life, and what it brings
Composing a concert is like composing a menu.... If you start with light pieces and play a 45-minute sonata after the interlude, it's like starting dinner with hors d'oeuvres and dessert and finishing with a Châteaubriand and vegetables.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote compares the structure of a concert to the arrangement of a meal, emphasizing the importance of flow and pacing.
Arthur Rubinstein's quote draws a parallel between the art of composing a concert and crafting a well-structured menu. Just as a great meal progresses from light appetizers to heavier main courses, a concert should be thoughtfully organized, leading the audience through an emotional journey that maintains interest and enjoyment. The analogy suggests that both music and dining require a careful consideration of pacing to create a satisfying experience.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a music class to illustrate the importance of structure in compositions.
More from Arthur Rubinstein
All quotes →Sometimes when I sit down to practice and there is no one else in the room, I have to stifle an impulse to ring for the elevator man and offer him money to come in and hear me.
To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle.
At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different.
I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have.
To be alive, to able to see, to walk...it's all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.
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If you are a new, upcoming designer, you've got to think of new, cool ways to make the industry look at you. Don't just get stuck in a rut, show your clothes, and be like, 'You should like this.'
I don't think the goal is, 'How big a star did you ever become?' I think the goal is, 'Were you able to express yourself?' And if you're able to say yes, in any field, you've won. If you paint, write, do mosaics, knit - if it's solving that part of your brain saying, 'I need to do this,' you've won.
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd and make the learned smile.
I had still the ambition, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of Thoreau on Innisfree, a little island in Lough Gill, and when walking through Fleet Street very homesick I heard a little tinkle of water and saw a fountain in a shop window which balanced a little ball upon its jet, and began to remember lake water. From the sudden remembrance came my poem Innisfree.